


His Son

by lizandletdie



Series: The Adoption!verse [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 02:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9361742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: A prelude to A Mother and a Father (The Adoption!Verse) wherein Arthur learns that he has a child and sees him for the first time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Can you write for the Adoption verse? What happened when Gold finds out he has a son, what happened from the moment he found them, knew about Belle and changed his mind abt some custody?

Arthur Gold reread the words on the paper from the doctor’s office over and over again, as though by some miracle he could make them change meaning. Brown eyes. Milah’s baby had brown eyes. It had been decades since he’d last sat in a biology classroom, but from what he could remember of biology he knew that was unlikely with a child born of two blue eyed parents. Milah had blue eyes. Her lover had blue eyes. The baby’s blood type was A – _his_ blood type was A, Milah’s was O. The baby’s father’s blood type was A. His blood was rushing in his ears as he tried to think through it all. The baby had been born in September. He and Milah had gone away for his birthday in early December, it was the most they’d been intimate in years and had turned out to be their last real week together. She didn’t move in with her boyfriend until the following February or March. 

This was his son. The timing and genetics were circumstantial, but barring a DNA test it was a damn solid reason to go poking around. He didn’t even know where the boy _was_ , though. He’d lost contact with Milah after the divorce was finalized and all he really knew was that she was into drugs and partying. Oh God, he’d left his son alone with a pair of drug addicts for the last ten years. He scrambled for his phone, pulling it out and unlocking it before he realized he had no idea who to call about this. He would need to find them first, find his son and then figure things out from there. He went through his desk, there’d been a PI he’d used back when he’d practiced law and he could give her a call. It was a solid first step, and then he could work out the other details from there. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to forgive himself if Bailey had been seriously hurt in his absence.

 

He was sitting in front of the house in his car watching Bailey playing basketball in the driveway. He’d done this daily for the last nine days trying to get up his courage to go knock on the door. He was actually surprised and relieved nobody had called the police yet, but he knew he was on borrowed time on that one. The second he’d first laid eyes on the boy, he’d known that was his child. Bailey had a way of brushing his hair back off his face that had suddenly felt like looking in a mirror of himself at the same age and he’d just been too stricken by it to even get out of the car. So he’d come back every single day since trying to work up his nerve.

The file he’d gotten from Cleo Fox said his name was Bailey and his adoptive mother was named Belle French. He’d seen her a few times when she’d walk him into the house in the afternoons or come out to tell him something. Once, she’d stayed outside for a half hour or so shooting baskets with him but she’d been clearly outclassed. She was pretty, and according to the file Cleo had on her she’d done well in college and ran a flower shop. No living family in the area, so it was just her and Bailey. She’d never married.

There were pictures of both of them in the file, Cleo had spent a few days following them and making sure everything was on the up-and-up before he approached the family, and she hadn’t noticed anything untoward. No signs of abuse or neglect, the house was clean, and Bailey seemed well taken care of. He was relieved that his son hadn’t been abused, but in a way this would all be a lot easier if it had been Milah. Milah would be a terrible mother and he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about taking custody. But Belle French seemed like a good mother, and _that_ was something he hadn’t expected when he’d started all this. He knew that, legally, this was his child. He could invalidate any adoption and take him easily, and he’d planned to do just that...but she seemed like a _good mother_. He hadn’t ever had a mother himself, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take his son away from one.

Belle French came out and yelled something to Bailey from the porch before going back inside, and Bailey returned to throwing his ball into the basketball hoop over the garage. Arthur noticed a woman walking a dog looking at him suspiciously and take his picture on her phone, and he was sure his good luck with the police was about to run out. It was time to make a choice one way or the other, and never knowing his son was absolutely unacceptable. He picked up his folder about the case and let himself out of his car before crossing the street to their house. Bailey watched him curiously as he approached the front door, but kept practicing his free throws with no idea that the man ringing the doorbell was about to change all three of their lives forever.


End file.
